NEW ORLEANS – Jim Harbaugh is trying to become the second 49ers head coach to go from Stanford’s sidelines to winning a Super Bowl down the road in San Francisco, joining the late great Bill Walsh. Before and after Harbaugh got the job in Palo Alto, Calif., Walsh made it a point to reach out to him.

When Stanford was looking for a coach for 2007, Walsh left his version of a recruiting message on Harbaugh’s phone. Unfortunately, Harbaugh said he “lost that phone or dropped it in the toilet or something.”

The Super Bowl has had two coaches with Stanford backgrounds. Jim Harbaugh hopes to follow in Bill Walsh's footsteps and win. (AP Photo)

“I was intending to leave that message on my phone for the rest of my life,” Harbaugh said. “Truly one of the most memorable things was getting that message.”

“He would come in and one of our favorite things to do was to sit down and watch recruiting tape with our offensive staff,” Harbaugh said. “There was one day in particular that we had all of the quarterbacks line up, there were seven or eight quarterbacks. There (were) a lot of names that you’d all know that are playing big-time college football and professional football.”

“Coach Walsh was with us and we ranked them. My memory is that Andrew Luck was his, and our, favorite.”